Athena's POV
Dinner had to have been the most awkward thing in the entire world. Whoever had done the seating plan clearly didn't realise my sister and I couldn't stand each other. As you could guess we had been seated at the same table and let me tell you we could literally cut the tension with a knife. Also sitting at our table were two other Alphas who had bought their betas and their Lunas. Whilst the Alphas were four bourbons deep into their conversation I sat there quietly listening to snippets of the conversation between the Lunas and my sister that I was pretty much forced to sit with. Mingling had never been a strong suite of mine preferring to stay silent and observant, you could learn a lot about someone if you sat back and listened. l had always lived in the shadow of my sister, Vanessa fitting in to any crowd she came across like it were effortless. In between feigning participation in the Lunas conversations, I hadn't missed the subtle side glances both Hector and Axel had given me, slowly a warm blush was beginning to work its way onto my face. Forcing my eyes away from my mate and apparent mate I excused myself from the table and headed to one of the many bathrooms this large manor had to offer. My knickers were beginning to dampen with arousal as they both threw their attention my way, I needed to calm down before anyone else had the chance to notice.
Staring at myself in the mirror I wondered how I had come this far. Just a few short months ago I was a nervous anxious mess, a girl that was scared to be in any kind of spotlight. Feeling comfortable in my own company away from prying eyes and the mumblings from others that left me in the deepest darkest parts of my mind. Trapped and unable to break free, a prisoner in my own body until I had once again bled the darkness from myself leaving yet another scar on my body. Yet here I stood surrounded by people I had never met before a feeling completely new to me bubbling inside. I was proud of myself.
"Why have you come here?" Vanessa's voice pulled me from my thoughts as she startled me, I hadn't even heard her enter. For a split second I had forgotten that this was the pack house public bathroom and not one of the private ones.
"To congratulate you and Axel. Why wouldn't we? With you here and no longer at home things will be better" I went to walk round her in order to leave the bathroom and head back to my mate, but she grabbed my arm only to stick a needle in it, the substance wasn't silver but whatever it was made me collapse on the ground as my eyesight began to blur before everything faded away.
**********
My skin burned the breeze that lapped my body did nothing to cool me down. Trying to open my eyes unable to see anything due to wearing what I assumed to be a blindfold. Frantically searching my mind for signs of my wolf but no matter how long I tried, I came up empty. The burning I felt had to be silver, until it was either removed from my body or out of my system, I wouldn't have access to Venus. The burning was too severe I struggled to sense the source of the silver. Having been alone for the whole of my life I had become accustomed to it, yet the night of my eighteenth birthday when Venus came to me that instantly changed. I wasn't alone, she was there every second of every day encouraging me to become the better version of myself in which I had fought so hard to become. Venus not being here now though had all those past feelings flooding back into me, fear and loneliness threatening to once again overwhelm me.
"You just couldn't leave things alone could you. Hectors rejection could have killed me. Had we not been related to the moon goddess it would of. He rejected me for YOU" the way she screamed at me sent fear barrelling through me.
"AHHHAAHHHAHHH" A scream was forced from my lips as a whip encountered my skin. It felt like hundreds of tiny razors were cutting into my flesh, a pain I wouldn't wish upon anyone.
"What you're feeling now, that's just a fraction of what I felt" the venom in her tone was so strong I could taste in on my tongue. We were sisters, no more than that we were twins. We should have been inseparable, yet we loathed each other. That aside I couldn't torture her, my heart broke knowing she didn't share the same thoughts.
"Vanessa please.... Sto... AHHH" my pleading was but short as the whip once again connected with my skin. I felt the warm of my blood run down my back and legs pooling on the floor at my feet.
"Now little sister that was rude. When I'm talking you don't speak. If you do it again, I will use something other than this whip. I'll tell you what, how about we remove your blind fold so you can see for yourself"
Suddenly light hit my eyes as she removed the blindfold. Behind her on the table were a selection of different knifes and scalpels. Tearing my eyes from her direction I realised I was hanging from the ceiling, the burning coming from the silver chains she had me placed in. It took a few moments before I noticed my clothing had been removed leaving me bare. When Vanessa and I were younger we had snuck into the dungeons and watched as our dad tortured a man, he too hung naked just as I am now.
Embarrassment washed over me as tears began to fall from my eyes a sob leaving my lips involuntary earning myself another whip. Vanessa was cruel but this, this was a whole new level, this was a side I didn't even think she was capable of.
"Athena I will ask you this one last time and if you lie to me I'm going to make you regret it. Now, why are you really here?"
"T...to get Axel" I struggled to speak as the pain radiates through my body, blood continuing to flow due to the silver chains preventing me from healing, I was beginning to become dizzy and lightheaded from the blood loss.
"Why?"
"He...Hector, he said the mate bond is still there that you are working with his mother" Vanessa chuckled as she walked in front of me, her perfectly manicured fist smacking into my jaw snapping my head to the side with the impact. Her eyes held zero remorse for what she was putting me through making me wonder just how deep her hate for me had routed.
"Well, I guess that cats out the bag. I suppose there's no harm in telling you now seeing as you're not going to be leaving here to tell anyone. His mother cast a spell that replicated the mate bond. When we have skin contact there are sparks, it may not be real but when we complete the marking process it will be"
"That's bullshit! You can't fake a mate bond Vanessa"
"Oh but we can and we have. His mother has even gone a step further to ensure I bare him a daughter. One that would be stronger than even us. I mean did you know that had our parents had a boy he wouldn't have been gifted powers? No, me neither. Apparently, our great grandmother only blessed the female line. Mix our power with that she would get from Axels mothers blood line, and we would be unstoppable. See Athena I don't want to just be Luna to this pack, I want to be the Luna of all. I want to be queen"
"How can you be queen if that title is held by our mother? She would never pass it down to you, not after this"
"Your right she won't. That's exactly why once Axel and I have our daughter we will have the power to overthrow her"
"You are fucking deluded Vanes... AHHH" a sharp pain radiates from my thigh, when I looked down, I watched Vanessa smirk before withdrawing the silver tipped knife she had sunk into me.